A ten hour dodgeball marathon in Nanaimo on Saturday helped raise money for BC Cancer. (Kyle Ireland/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge

‘Take out many of your frustrations:’ Nanaimo dodgeball marathon raises money for cancer research

Nov 9, 2025 | 8:45 AM

NANAIMO — Balls were flying for a good cause.

Members of the Vancouver Island Dodgeball League took over the gym at Island ConnectEd on Jingle Pot Rd. on Saturday, Nov. 8 for the first Island-based Dodge for a Cure.

Small games were staged for 10 hours straight, with organizer Kerry Wilkinson saying they raised money for BC Cancer.

“The Dodge for the Cure event runs on the Mainland…but they run it as a competition because they have a massive player base, but we don’t have the same, similar numbers on the Island so we decided to run a slightly different event, lots of small competitions and tournaments.”

It was one of the first forays into an event of this nature for the league, which started in 2022.

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Wilkinson said they began around three years ago, and have grown substantially since then.

“We’ve gone from having probably four people in the spring of 2022, to having maybe 40 full time, regular, week-to-week players. On top of that there’s probably a good dozen that don’t necessarily play every week but play here and there.”

Wilkinson hopes to make an Island edition of the fundraising event an annual date on the calendar, not only raising money for BC Cancer but the profile of the league as a whole.

Between 50 and 60 people turned up for Saturday’s fundraiser, which also featured a Noon-hour game between a teams led by Nanaimo-Lantzville MLA George Anderson and his Ladysmith-Oceanside counterpart Stephanie Higginson.

Anderson’s squad won 2-1.

Sam Morrison has played dodgeball for the last 17 years, saying it was a “silly” sport which allowed players “to take out many of your frustrations in life on people who are accepting of you throwing balls at them.”

She told NanaimoNewsNOW Dodge for the Cure resonated with her personally.

“I’m an emergency room nurse, and I see a lot of really terrible cancer cases and anything we can raise is just going to help prevent that in the future.”

Sam Morrison (right) readying a throw on Saturday. (Kyle Ireland/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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